Getting Off the Plateau
Growing Up Is More Than Showing Up
1 John 2:12-14
 
Warren Wiersbe is one of the most popular and well known Bible teachers in all the world. He once made this incredible statement: "After over forty years of ministry, I am convinced that spiritual immaturity is the number one problem in our churches."
 
I heard a story of a little boy who fell out of bed in the middle of the night. When his mother rushed to his room to ask him what happened, he said, "I don't know. I guess I stayed too close to where I got in." So many Christians do that with their faith. For most of their Christian life they stay too close where they got in.
 
You see, we often think that "growing up is showing up." We think that if a person comes to church on Sunday morning, and perhaps even attends a Bible study group, and maybe even holds an official position in the church like deacon, or Sunday School teacher, or committee member, or a trustee, that he or she must be a mature Christian.
 
Well I want you to know that some of the most immature Christians I have ever pastored never missed a Sunday morning church service. Some of the most immature Christians I know have been in the same Bible study class for twenty years, and some of the most immature Christians I know have held official positions in the church.
 
 
 
In fact, I would go a little further and say, in addition to what Dr. Wiersbe said, that the second greatest problem in the church is having spiritually immature people in places of leadership.
 
And if we are going to address the decline and plateaus of the modern church we are going to have to deal with the fact that God wants you to grow up. Our Heavenly Father's goal is for us to mature and become more like Jesus every day. The sad truth is there are millions of Christians who grow older, but they never grow up.
 
Over and over and over we are told that God wants us to grow up.
 
"We are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head into Christ." (Eph. 4:15 ESV)
 
"So let us stop going over the basics of Christianity again and again; let us go on instead and become mature." (Heb. 6:1 NLT)
 
"Like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation." (1 Pet. 2:2 ESV)
 
"Grow in grace and understanding of our Master and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Pet. 3:18 The MSG)
 
Growth is the goal of the Christian. Maturity is mandatory for every child of God. When a Christian stops growing, he starts backsliding.  You never stay the same. If you are the same Christian today that you were a year ago, you are not the Christian that you ought to be. I want to share with you in this message how you can attain spiritual maturity.
Now in the first message in this series, we talked about it being all about God.  Today the focus shifts.  This message is all about us.  If we will mature spiritually, the responsibility is ours.  That means
 
1. We Must Desire Spiritual Maturity
 
You will notice in verses 12 through 14 of 1 John that he identifies three levels of spiritual maturity. In verse 12 and again in verse 13 he speaks of "little children." In verse 12, the word used for “children” speaks of a disciple or one who is under instruction.  It’s John speaking to his listeners as a teacher speaks to his students.  Specifically he is addressing those who have been saved by having their sins forgiven.   
 
Then in verses 13 and 14 he categorizes those disciples into three categories.  There are the fathers, young men and little children.
 
Now I see the same thing when I look out at this congregation.  We are primarily a group of Christian who have gathered in His name and for His name’s sake.  And physically I can look across the crowd and identify the children, the young people and the more seasoned adults.  That is fairly easy to do physically.   
 
However, that is not so apparently spiritually because physical maturity does not necessarily equate with spiritual maturity. In other words, you cannot determine the spiritual maturity of an individual by the physical maturity. I may be looking at a young person who, in his spiritual maturity, is an adult, and I may be looking at an adult who, in his spiritual maturity, is a child.
That’s why John addresses these groups in different ways.  He was most likely addressing a crowd of adults, but he identifies them as children, young men and fathers. 
 
The Greek word for "children" in verse 13 is a different word from the word “children” in verse 12.  While verse 12 refers to disciples, verse 13 translates exactly as you see it in the text.  He’s calling them “little children” or we might call them babes in Christ. 
 
Now there is nothing wrong with being a babe in Christ. In fact, every one of us starts there.  Jesus said, “You must be born again” and we all start our walk with God as babies.  1 Pet. 2:2 says, "We are to desire the milk of the word like newborn babes."
 
Now while there is nothing wrong with being a baby, there is everything wrong with staying a baby.  And unfortunately there are many in the church today, who even though they may have accumulated years physically, they are still in the nursery spiritually.
 
Now if you were going to describe a baby, what word would first come to your mind?  We might talk about them being cute or precious or innocent, but perhaps the most descriptive word to talk about babies should be “selfish”.
 
Babies are completely self-centered. If they don't get what they want when they want it what do they do?--cry. Whose needs do they care about?--their own. Whenever you give them what they want, do they ever thank you?--no. Do they ever try to help someone else?--no. Do they ever give anything except what they deposit in their diaper?--no.
Several years ago, Amy Grant recorded a song that said,
 
“I know a man, maybe you know him, too.
You never can tell; he might even be you.
He knelt at the altar, and that was the end.
He's saved, and that's all that matters to him.
 
His spiritual tummy, it can't take too much.
One day a week, he gets a spiritual lunch.
On Sunday, he puts on his spiritual best,
And gives his language a spiritual rest.
 
He's been baptized, sanctified, redeemed by the blood, But his daily devotions are stuck in the mud.
He knows the books of the Bible and John 3:16.
He's got the biggest King James you've ever seen!
 
I've always wondered if he'll grow up someday.
He's momma's boy, and he likes it that way.
If you happen to see him, tell him I said,
"He'll never grow, if he never gets fed."
 
He's just a fat little baby!
He wants his bottle, and he don't mean maybe.
He sampled solid foods once or twice,
But he says doctrine leaves him cold as ice.”
 
All a little baby does is take, and all a little baby cares about is himself.
 
That’s why we are, from the moment we are born again into God's family as a baby, to begin to move on to the next stage of maturity.
 
 
 
To use John’s word, the second category is "young men." Here we encounter Christians who have moved from baby's milk to adult meat. They are beginning to learn that they are responsible for their own spiritual maturity.
 
They are identified in verse 13 and again in verse 14 as those who have overcome the wicked one.  In verse 14, they are described as strong and filled with the Word of God. 
 
Here are those believers who have grown in their relationship with God.  The devil doesn’t push them around and have victories in their life.  They aren’t driven by emotion and reaction.  They have learned God speaks to them through the Bible.
 
Then John addresses the fathers.  This is the goal of every child of God.  We are to desire spiritual maturity.  We shouldn’t be content with a constant diet of milk.  We shouldn’t expect that someone has to come running every time we cry. 
 
These are those who have come to know God. Notice he says in verse 13, "Fathers have known Him who is from the beginning." Then he repeats exactly the same thing in verse 14, "Fathers have known Him who is from the beginning."
 
This is not just about being familiar with the Bible or understanding the nature of salvation. It’s not about knowing the will of God or the work of God or the ways of God or even the Word of God; you know God. And here’s what will develop from that: the more you know the Father, the more you will be like God. 
 
There is obviously a process that one must follow to move from being a baby to a young person to an adult and it doesn’t happen automatically or spontaneously.  If you're going to attain spiritual maturity, if you're going to grow, you've got to want to grow. You've got to decide to grow. You've got to make an effort to grow, and you've got to continue to grow.
 
Churches are filled with people who have not made the commitment to grow and they attend church all of their life as a spiritual baby. You see, an active member is not necessarily the same as a mature member.  The truth is spiritual maturity is intentional. It requires commitment, effort, determination and work.
 
A young man once came to the great teacher, Socrates, and said, "Socrates, will you be my teacher?" Socrates told the young man to follow him, and he turned and walked into the ocean.
 
The young man followed him into the sea, and they kept walking until the water was just touching their lips. Socrates then turned around and put both hands on the young man's head and pushed him under the water. The young man, wanting to be a compliant student, stayed there for awhile, but soon he began to spit and sputter, and thrash about trying to get air.
 
All the while Socrates held him under the water. Soon the man began blowing large bubbles and thrashing about as wildly as he possibly could. Finally, Socrates took his hands off the young man who popped to the surface gasping for air, spewing water out of his mouth.
He looked at Socrates and said, "Why did you do that?"  Socrates looked at him and said, "When you want to learn as much as you wanted to breathe, then I will be your teacher."
 
When you really begin to crave spiritual growth like a baby craves milk, you will then begin to really grow and mature in the Lord Jesus Christ. We must desire spiritual maturity.  And  
 
2. We Must Develop Spiritual Maturity
 
Now in order to leave childhood you must become a young adult.  I want you to see the way John describes a spiritual mature young man. 
 
1 John 2:14
 
Now one of the key words in the verse is "abide".  IT means "to live with." If you're going to grow as a Christian you must live with the Word of God and you must live in the Word of God so that you will be able to live by the Word of God.
 
See why we talked last week about the importance of allowing the Word of God to guide and govern our lives?  Unless you get into the Word of God yourself on a consistent basis, you will never ever grow to full spiritual maturity. It's just that simple. Those who want to grow read their Bible; those who don't won't.
 
If spiritual maturity is going to be a priority in your life, Bible study must be a priority in your life. You cannot read the newspaper for one hour, watch the television for three hours, stay on the internet or
iphone half the day,, then insert a few minutes of Bible before you go to bed and expect to grow.
We can’t wait to read the latest posts on Facebook or check the e-mail or read the latest bestseller or magazine, yet we don’t have the time or inclination to open the precious Word of God. 
 
There are people all over the country who claim to believe the Bible from cover to cover.  Yet many of them have never read the Bible from cover to cover.  It's a shame that there are atheists and skeptics who have read the Bible from cover to cover and don't believe it, while there are millions of Christians who claim to believe it from cover to cover but have never read it.
 
Do you realize that if you will read the Bible just 15 minutes a day you will read completely through it once a year? If you cut out one 30 minute television program a day and read your Bible instead, you will read through the entire Bible twice a year.
 
In reality this book is God's manual for maturity. 2 Tim. 3:16 says, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."  Each one of those purposes are very important. The Bible gives us doctrine so we can know what is right. It then gives us reproof so we can know what is not right. It then gives us correction to tell us how to get right, and then it gives us instruction so we can know how to stay right.
 
Suppose I have to drive from Ardmore, Oklahoma to a certain address in Dallas, Texas. So I program the address into the trip navigator on the car.  By the way, I don’t use that thing very much, primarily because it has a woman’s voice and I just hate having a woman tell me how to drive. 
But I put the address in and it figures out the best way for me to get there and plots the course.  That driving plan is my doctrine. It tells me what is right and will guide me to my destination.
 
Now suppose as I'm driving along, I either disregard the instruction or don’t hear correctly and I make a wrong turn.  Do you know what will happen?  The little lady who lives in the dash of my car will tell me I’ve messed up.  She immediately says, “You’ve taken a wrong turn.  That is reproof.  She just told me I was not right.
 
She then informs me she is going to reconfigure my route and the first thing I need to do is turn around as soon as possible.  By the way, that is called repentance in Biblical terms and it is always intended to get me back on the right course.  So I reverse my direction.  That is called correction. 
 
She then tells me to proceed by doing this or that and soon I’m back on the right road to my destination and she then proceeds to tell me that I should follow this route to arrive at my destination and that is instruction.  
 
You could do a lot of things that will help you along the road to spiritual maturity. But if you do not take time everyday to spend time with the word of God, so that you can hear the voice of the God of the word, you will stay a spiritual baby all of your life.
 
Don't think that you can come to church once a week and let me spoon feed you 35 or 40 minutes of truth and that's all you need. Just as you eat food for your physical body every day, you must eat the meat of the word of God for your soul every day.
Invest in some tools to help you develop spiritual maturity.  Build a library of books, either real or electronic to assist you.  Get a good Bible dictionary and concordance.  Invest in some commentaries. Seek out some Bible apps and get busy studying the Word of God so you can develop as a child of God.
 
We must desire spiritual maturity, We must develop spiritual maturity and
 
3. We Must Demonstrate Spiritual Maturity
 
Now I want you to listen very carefully to this next statement: Spiritual maturity is demonstrated more by how you behave than it is by what you believe.  What you believe or say you believe does not matter if you do not behave like you believe what you believe.
 
Listen to
 
James 3:13
 
Sometimes we get the idea that if a person knows a lot about the Bible or can spout off a few verses or talk about the Bible, then he or she must be spiritually mature.  But it ain’t necessarily so!  Spiritual maturity is not how much you know about Jesus in your head; it is how well you know Jesus in your heart, and how much you show Jesus in your life.
 
That's why the real mark of maturity is obedience. James said, "Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to His word; instead put it into practice." (James 1:22 TEV)
 
Real maturity is not just learning what the Bible says, but applying it in different circumstances in
your life.
 
Whether you are a preacher of the gospel like I am,
or a Sunday School teacher, or a deacon or mission leader or staff member, we need to remember the objective of teaching and preaching is not just to provide information.  It is to change lives.
 
God is a lot more concerned with your character than He is with your comfort. The way we get to demonstrate spiritual maturity is through the various circumstances that come into our lives. Every time something happens to us, good, bad, or ugly, it gives us an opportunity to respond in the way God would have us to according to His word, and when we do that we build character.
 
The fruit of the Spirit, according to Gal. 5:22-23 is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. How does God produce the fruit of Spirit in our lives?
 
He does it by putting us in the exact type of circumstance to force us to bear the fruit that is needed in that particular situation. Do you know any people around you that you work with, or live next to that are unlovable? God wants to use those people to teach you how to love.
 
You ever had your heart broken by someone or been disappointed by a friend or lost a loved one?  God allows sorrow in your life to teach you joy. 
Anybody here in the middle of a storm, having difficulties, people upset with you, criticizing you? God is trying to develop peace within your heart.
So the next time you are wondering why you're going through a difficult time in your life, just remember God is wanting to use that situation so you can demonstrate both to the saint and the sinner that you have the spiritual maturity to see it through God's viewpoint, and to handle it according to God's truth.
 
The Marines have a distinguished reputation for meticulously training their soldiers. All new recruits understand some of the rationale behind their training. One newcomer to boot camp was confused and even angered by the drill instructor's obsession for details.
 
When holding their trays in the food line, each man was forced to hold his hands in a certain position. They were required to have their right hand on the bottom corner and their left hand on the top corner; all the while holding it flat against their chest. Whenever the men would fail to hold their tray exactly as instructed they were verbally chastised and ordered to do pushups.
 
They began to wonder why standing in line just to get food they had to hold their tray a particular way.
 
Well, later when their weapons were issued, these men were amazed to see how they were instructed to hold their rifle whether they were running or marching exactly the same way they held their food tray. Now what seemed like insignificant repetition in the mess hall was actually critical training for the battlefield.
 
 
 
Many times we find ourselves in situations where we're having to respond in certain ways. We may not understand either the circumstance or our response. But God is using that to train us for the future, and to build character within us.
 
I heard about a man that took his young daughter to a carnival, and she ran over to a booth and asked for some cotton candy. When the attendant handed her this gigantic ball of cotton candy, the dad said, "Sweetheart, are you sure you can eat all of that?"
 
The little girl said, "Don't worry, dad, I'm a lot bigger on the inside than I am on the outside."
 
Well, that is what our Heavenly Father wants for you and me, that every day we grow bigger on the inside than we are on the outside. We can do it through reading, receiving, remembering, and reproducing His Word through our life.
 
Let’s pray.